Waiting in the Dark
by TheSolaceDance
Summary: Roxanne is captured by Joker's men and taken somewhere far away. There she finds out things she wishes that she didn't know about Jonathan.
1. Chapter 1

I stared at the ruby on my ring as I twirled it around. The light was caught and sent into a million sparkling shades of red onto my face. Jonathan would tell me how the light was being fractured and all that nonsense and I would pretend to listen. My heart beat a little faster at the thought of him. Jonathan, Jonathan, Jonathan... Every time he was gone I missed him. I guess that's what you would call a soulmate. Someone you missed when they left the room. Shilo was at school so I was at home with nothing to do, and everything to read. I guess that would be my problem: I buy books, read them once, then never touch them again. I picked up a book and opened it. It was an old book about a woman who waits for her husband to return home. Ironic, since that is exactly what I'm doing. How long has my Jonathan been away? A few days? He seems to be doing that a lot recently. Marcey thinks he's cheating. I don't think so. He's not that type of person. Then again, that's how all people are. You think you know them, and the poof! You don't. But I digress. I know he's not.

The door opened but didn't close. Little stomps and a small grunt signified that my little Shilo was home at last. She came bounding into the living room where I was sitting and stood in front of me. I looked into her deep blue eyes that I swear she got from Jonathan. Of course, both of us have blue eyes, but his were always much deeper.

"Momma?" she says with a small voice. "Some men outside said they wanted to tell you something." I set the book down. "Go and do your homework." Shilo ran off, probably to play instead, and I got up and went outside. The house we lived in was large, and away from the town. We were secluded and in our own world. We liked it that way, and no one usually visited us.

Four large men were waiting on the porch. One, a burly geen-haired man, was carving swear words into the wood. Another, who had a pink mohawk, was sizing up the door which was seven times his size. (Large door, I know). "Hey Lady," the green-haired brute said. "nice place ya got here. S'gunna be fun ta burn it down!" he snickered like it was a grand idea. "Who the hell are you?" I asked calmly. The other two men came forward with a large burlap sack. "Nice and easy now..." Mohawk said. Before I knew what was happening, everything went black.

I woke up with a large pain on the back of my head. When I tried to touch it, I found that my arms were bound by a straightjacket. Instantly I felt the choking sensation that I usually get when I feel that I'm in a small space. Air refused to enter my lungs, or if it did, it didn't feel like it. I was splayed on a table. I could hear faint voices around me. A large blinding light was turned on and after a moment I saw that I was in an auditorium. One of those ones where they show people how to preform surgery.

"...patient...bright light...blinds...tools here...small incision..." What felt like fire seared its way across my forehead just under my hairline. Awareness was flooding back into my brain as I tried to scream, but something was lodged in my mouth. A heavy block of metal was placed onto my head. "A simple procedure, really. Just tap-" Yet again, everything went black.

Movement was hard. I was pretty sure that I had been drugged. I tried to sit up, but it was as if I was paralyzed. Partially anyways. I could feel straw under my hands, and I could tell that my clothing had been replaced by a hospital gown. I opened my eyes, but I could only see through one. I tried opening the other, but it's sort of hard to do that when both are open. I was half blind and probably paralyzed, too.

I eventually got my hand up to my head and I felt the area where the incision was, and where the metal had hit me. I've seen this type of thing happen in movies. That was a lobotomy. At least they didn't take a chunk out of my brain. They made me blind in one eye, and my movement is now hampered. If I could just sit up, then I can take a look at my surroundings. I moved my foot and found that my ankle had been broken. There's no way I can walk on that. They must have done that to keep me from running. They might have done it because they knew that they didn't complete the lobotomy (and they want to finish it later) or they had no idea and they did it anyways just in case. Better to play dumb and blind.

Keys rattled around and there was a strange humming coming from the hallway. Someone was singing a song about burning babies and dancing in their blood. Loud banging came from the gates, and someone danced in. A man with green hair grabbed my face. "Well, hello-o-o-o-o Mrs. Crane~ How are you?" I had seen him somewhere before... In the news. Joker.

"Mmmm, seems like m'boys did a good job with this one. Y'think Scarecrow will listen to me now?" he laughed and the halitosis almost made me gag. "Uhhh, I don't know, Joker. Maybe?" his goon said. Joker frowned and threw me to the ground. I suppressed a groan and laid down like a rag doll. "Maybe? MAYBE? I'll tell you what- He WILL. And, if this doesn't work, then we'll just have to find a new chemist." Joker pulled out his gun and shot the goon. This time I couldn't suppress a jump. "Oooh, still in there, are we? Bouncing around in the ol' nogin? Hey, y'know what? I bet you're wondering where your husband is, aren't you? Oh what am I saying? OF COURSE you are." He grabbed me by the back of my neck and led me forward. As soon as weight was put on my ankle I fell to the ground. It was all I had to keep from screaming.

"Uh-oh! Goons! We got ourselves a lame one!" he paused. "Goons!" he looked around. "Oh that's right. Be right back." He danced off and found something on wheels. "Look, I got you one of those stand-up beds!" He lifted me up and strapped me in. "Look, it even has a mask! You can pretend to be Bane!" He put a hard mask over me, and part of it stuck in my mouth. I could only make mumbling sounds. "What's that? Can't hear you!" he cackled. Living with a psychologist you learn a thing or two about situations like this. People go crazy from the stress alone. I let myself drift into a state of almost-sleep.

Bright lights jolted me awake. I was in a lab. I could see solutions bubbling in glasses and tables with bodies on them. Whether or not they were alive I could not tell. "Scarecrow! Good t'see ya pal, how ya been! Listen, I did some thinking about the choice words you said to me – what were they again? F**k off? Yeah. Those ones. And I thought I'd bring you a present and – TADAA~! I brought you darling Roxy!" I heard glass breaking. "I thought you'd be glad to see her! She's missed you so much, the poor girl. She even had some work done! A little make over! Yes, I thought the hair had to go, too! She should be pretty quiet, now. The only good woman is a quiet one I always say! Well, tah tah for now!" I heard a door slam shut.

The one called Scarecrow was in my blind spot. He moved in front of me. He was covered from head to toe in brown, and most of it was burlap. Sick and twisted like the rest of these weirdos in Gotham. "Roxanne," he said. His voice was familiar. Too familiar.


	2. Chapter 2

_...his voice was familiar. Too familiar._

"Roxanne...?" he said stepping closer. I looked around the room frantically. No doubt he knew I was still aware. I knew some self defense. Go for the balls. Step on the inside of his foot. Use the bottom of your hand to break his nose. Any of these things could get me a head start.

"How...? What have they _done_?" he touched the incision gently. "I'll kill Joker for this." he started to pull at the mask. "I'll kill him..." The mask came off, almost taking a few teeth with it. If he would just be stupid enough to take off the rest of these bindings, then I could attack. "I'll get you out of here." he said. What luck! The 'hole is dumb! I balled my fists up. The last of the restraints came loose and poised for the attack.

I fell to the ground – and on my broken ankle, too! I screamed from the pain and began to army crawl to the door. Have to get out. I have to get out. Scarecrow picked me up and I flailed to try to get out of his grasp. "No! Roxanne stop! They'll kill you!" Yeah? So will you. "Haaaaaah! Uhhaaaaah!" I screamed loudly while throwing my fists at his head. Something hard underneath sent ringing signals of pain up my arms. Scarecrow smashed his hand across my mouth.

The door opened and Joker popped his head in. "Oh and by the way, Scarecrow; if you don't do what I tell you, _I'll kill 'er._" he said none too kindly. He slammed the door.

What would killing me have to do with something Scarecrow has to do? How am I so important. Maybe I could use this to my advantage.

Scarecrow turned me around roughly and held me by the upper arms. "Roxanne! You have to be quiet! Anything could set these a*holes off!" How important am I? If I'm a celebrity, then no one told me. "Please..." I looked up into his face. Two dark eyes holes haphazardly cut into burlap. Dark holes that expanded into nothingness. Something about him was familiar. He can't possibly be related to me. I think I'd know if I had crazy running in my family. Unless this was like Halloween where I had an older brother who was a serial killer that only wanted to be reunited with me.

He picked me up and carried me to a table. He turned and grabbed a few medical supplies. "Let me see your foot." I shook my head rapidly. "NOW!"

I jumped and my broken ankle landed against the side of the table. I doubled over in pain, cursing. "F**king sh*t!" I yelled. He put his hands up and tried to calm me down. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled. Just let me see your foot." without hesitation he grabbed my leg and lifted it up. My ankle had swollen to twice its size. "Ohhhh," Blood? No blood... Why is there blood? This is why I'm only a pediatrics nurse – I don't have to see anything like this. "Calm down. It's not that bad." He poured some hydrogen peroxide on it which made everything ice cold, and used some ointment that had no label. Probably some kind of anti-biotic. Then he wrapped it up in gauze bandages. "If I had the material to make a cast, I would. Just stay on the table."

"Where are we?" I asked. "A warehouse." he replied. "Where is this warehouse?" He made a quick movement with his hand. "Here. It's right here. We're in it." Douche.

"Where's Jonathan?" I asked. Scarecrow turned and looked at me. "What do you mean?" he said, sounding hurt. "My husband. Where is he? What have you _people_ done with him?"

"We people? We _PEOPLE?_ Has your memory gone with your sight? Have you already forgotten what I sound like? How I move? You're smarter than this, I know it." he removed his mask. "I'm right _here._"

Everything in the world was drowned out and dead.

"What?"I felt my head rising to the ceiling. "It's _me!_" I could barely hear anything. "You..." I whispered. "You're one of... _them_." He looked desperately at me. "Don't say it like that! You don't understand!"

"Understand what? What is there to understand? This whole time – all these years! I've seen them all on TV! Batman, Robin, Spoiler, Joker, Harley Quinn, Penguin – and even you! All these crazy messed up people running around in colored underwear! Never did I imagine that I was _married_ to one of them!" By now Jonathan was sitting in a chair clutching his stomach. "I never wanted... I never meant to..."

"...and what about all those people, huh? Why do you kill people?" He stood up. "I didn't kill anybody!" he shouted. "They killed themselves! I only made their phobias come to life!"

"Of course, ...of course you did." I said. _"You just don't know, Roxy. Some people change. First they love you, and then they're off sleeping with some call girl who lives down the street. You sure there's no co-workers at the university or the lab? Students, maybe?" said Marcey. "No, no." I had said. "He's not like that. Sometimes he just needs to be at the lab longer, grading papers or finishing up an experiment. He doesn't cheat."_

Well, at least I was right on one thing.


	3. Chapter 3

"There are things that you just don't understand."

"Like what? What could I possibly not understand?" My ankle was starting to throb. The air in the room was heating up which meant that it was somewhere in the afternoon. "You can't-"

The door opened and a woman dressed in black walked in. "I found it!" she exclaimed in a heavy British accent. "I found the file you wanted! It was just under my desk." The woman turned from me to Jonathan and back again. "Who... Who is this? Is this a patient? Usually they're not so conscious." Jonathan sighed angrily. Shadow, Roxanne, Roxanne, Shadow." Shadow looked at me thoughtfully. "Hullo," she said. I stared at her. "Call me Kate." she smiled widely.

"So, what's with her eye?" Kate said. They continued their conversation as if I wasn't even there. Which was good. The less they thought about me the better.

"So which toxin should we use on this one?" Kate asked. She reached toward a shelf of syringes. Jonathan grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her away from the table. "Hey! Watch it!"

"She's not a patient, she's my _wife._ Joker's goons kidnapped her." A light glinted in Kate's eyes. " I didn't know you were married! You got any kids?" Jonathan paused. "Shilo." He turned to me. "Roxanne, where's Shilo? Tell me they didn't get her!" He grabbed my shoulders in a vice grip and shook me. "I don't know!" I yelled. And I truly didn't. Who's to say they didn't take her too? She could be anywhere. Alone. Cold. Scared.

An overwhelming anger started rising inside of me. If Joker or his goons touched Shilo I was going to hunt him down and kill all of them. If only my ankle wasn't broken I would go find her right now.

Jonathan paced back and forth throwing papers and bottles everywhere. The last time I ever saw him like this was back when he was finishing his dissertation in college. "Kate!" he yelled after a few minutes. "Go and see what you can find out." Kate nodded solemnly and walked out of the room. The air grew darker, more impending. Now I had two reasons to get out. To get out, and to find Shilo and make sure she's safe.

"This isn't what I wanted to happen," Jonathan said. "I never meant for anyone to...:" My fists clenched on the cold metal table. "To what? Hurt anyone? That's rich, coming from you. But that's not important right now. What is important is that we find Shilo."

"_We_ aren't doing anything. _You_ are going to stay here, and _I_ am going to find out where Shilo is." Jonathan walked over to a stack of papers and pulled out a thick folded parchment. He unfolded it and spread it out on the desk. It was a map. There were x's and circles and dots with notes scrawled all over it. He pulled out a marker and circled a few rooms, muttering to himself. "What are you doing?" I asked him after a few minutes. "Roxanne, please. I'm trying to concentrate." he growled.

I banged on the table. "No. Shilo is my daughter too. If Joker has her, I want to know where." So I can kill him. If he so much as looked at her I was going to find out what his insides looked like. "Do you really think that you'll be able to do anything?" he said, turning. "You'll run in there without thinking, and you'll get yourself _and Shilo_ killed." I thought about my condition. Half blind, wounded in multiple places, and so weak that I can't lift more than 100 pounds. What protection could I possibly offer Shilo? Naturally my maternal instincts would kick in and I would run in there and try to take Joker down. "If I could, I would tear this place down," Jonathan said. "but Joker and his men are too strong. Even if I gassed the place he would be able to survive it. Anything that involves that man is never easy." He was right. Neither of us could rush in there.

"We're going to have to use Kate. Joker lets her see some of the more secret things he does. I've known her long enough that we can trust her. Joker doesn't trust anyone, but if she can manage to not piss Harley Quinn off long enough then she'll have full access to anything that he does. Harley would just love to gossip about a child." So our only hope was an insane madwoman who puts no value in human life. But even if she is mad, she is still a woman. Maybe she could stop Joker from harming Shilo? Then again, maybe not. She was as unpredictable as Joker, and that worried me.

The door creaked open and Kate walked in. "Status Report," she said. "Joker's men are morons. They talk a lot about women and honestly I'd like to use them as experiments. I heard nothing about a child being brought through, or anything about bodies. Sorry."

"B-but what about Harley?" I blurted. "Wouldn't she know something?" Kate looked at me thoughtfully. "I didn't see her, but I could ask. Scarecrow, you might want to check with that cannibal woman, wherever she is." Jonathan started to say something but Kate cut him off. "'Course you might want to check where they store the bodies around lunch." she joked. I felt my face twist into an expression of horror. "Cannibal?" I said. "Yeah," Kate laughed. "I hear she eats body parts raw, but I've seen her cook them sometimes. You should see her face – it looks like the family from that chainsaw movie!" I looked over at Jonathan. "Is there really... a cannibal?" The thought that anyone could eat another human being was absolutely horrifying. "Yes, there is. But she isn't what you're thinking."

Great. Another monster to add to the list. I'm trapped in a warehouse filled with monsters that could do anything with little to no provocation at any time. The fact that one of them was my husband offered me no comfort. "She doesn't kill anyone," Jonathan continued. "I'm assuming she was a villain at some point," I said pointedly. "Yes," he said. "She was a domestic terrorist." Terrorists, madmen, killers, torturers, thieves, gangsters, rapists... all put into one place under one sick twisted man. Wasn't there some kind of hero that Gotham was supposed to have? What was his name? Superman? No... Catman? No... Batman! That was it. Where the hell was he?


	4. Chapter 4

Kate looked down at a watch that I had not noticed before. "Oh! Would you look at the time! It's almost midnight! Well, I'm going to take this opportunity to go to sleep! You kids have fun." She left the room and the door closed behind her.

Jonathan came over to me and cupped my face in his hands. "We will find her, I promise. For now you're just going to have to trust me. Do not try to find her on your own, and do not try to escape. They will kill you and I... I can't loose you." I understood the gravity of the situation, but finding my daughter was far too important.

"Put your arm around my neck," Jonathan said. "Why?" I asked, balling my hands into fists. "So I can at least out you somewhere softer so you can sleep. Unless you plan on sleeping on that operating table." I made no objection so he put his arms around me and lifted me up. My heart started pounding and I realized just how much I missed him. Even knowing what I knew now couldn't change how I felt about him. Not really. No matter how much I wanted to, I just couldn't hate him. I just couldn't imagine him as the serial killer that I saw on TV.

He took me into a smaller room that had a twin size bed that was just a mattress and no pillow. He put me down and turned on a crude lamp. "It's not the best in the world but it is something at least." he said. "I have to go finish my research, I'll be back in a few hours." He left the room. I didn't particularly feel like doing anything (as if there was anything to do) so I went to sleep.

I woke up to find Jonathan sleeping on the bed with his arms around me. How he managed to do that without waking me up was a mystery. I tensed up and he must have sensed it because he started to stir. "Is it morning?" I asked softly. He let go of me and sat on the end of the bed. I didn't bother to look at him.

"Yes." he said. He got up and grabbed his mask off of a hatstand that I had not seen earlier. "I'll be right back." I sat up as he left, resting against the wall. My ankle was still bandaged up but blood was seeping through. It was also swelling to twice it's size and turning a blue-ish color.

Jonathan came back into the room with a wheelchair. "Come on," he said, holding his arms out to me. "I can't leave you here alone where Joker or his men can get to you." He lifted me up and put me in the chair. "Where are we going?" I asked. "To see if Thanatos has seen Shilo."

The warehouse must have been bigger than I thought because there were long corridors and many doors. Or maybe they lied? Of course I could be getting an infection and everything seems bigger than it really is. We came to a door that opened to a small room. The room had nothing in it save for a staircase. "I need you to hang on to the chair." Jonathan said quietly. I turned in the chair as much as I could and hung on to the back of it. I looked up at him as he slowly lifted me down. I could see his deep blue eyes boring into my soul. Analyzing me and my condition.

When we got to the bottom I could hear some of Joker's men whispering as we went through. "Who's that in the chair?" They said. "Oh man, it's Scarecrow! That guy gives me the creeps!" Others said. All of them chatting as if Jonathan couldn't hear them.

As my eyes adjusted to the darkness I could see a whole dug-out system of tunnels. Was this how Joker's men seemed to be anywhere at any time and get away cleanly? If I ever get out... No. When I get out, I will go straight to the police about this. If there's one thing I could do for this wretched city, then that would be it.

Dirt and rubble was flung up by the wheels turning in the tunnel. We went along the tunnel and it almost seemed like we were on a red carpet because Joker's men lined the walls. After a few minutes Jonathan stopped at a seemingly random door. He opened the door and pushed me inside. The smell hit me like a wave and almost made me puke. It was a sickening smell of cooking meat, but something was off about it. Cooking meat wasn't supposed to smell like it was rotting. There was, however, and underlying smell of dead bodies. A smell that I was familiar with given my job as a nurse.

Over in a corner there was a shape bent over a pot on a stove. A light flicked on, and the shape straightened. "Ah, that's better." the shape said. "I think I can see what I'm doing, now." The shape came into view and I could see that it was a woman. "I need to know something," Jonathan said. The shape returned to the pot and pulled a spoon out to taste whatever was in the pot. "Hmmm," she said. "needs more salt." She put in salt and grabbed a ladle. "Thanatos," he said, growing impatient. Thanatos poured what looked like soup into a bowl and brought it over to a table. "Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, what do you need?" she sang in a tune from the 1940s swing song.

"Have you seen a little girl around here. She's about seven with dark hair and-" Thanatos put up a hand to stop him. "Do you honestly think," she said stirring the soup. "that I go around looking for little girls that may have gotten lost on a field trip?"

I probably should have kept my mouth shut, but I opened it anyway. "Please," I said. "Isn't there anything you may have seen?" You'd think that if she saw no little girl then I should be relieved. But nothing the woman said did anything to quell my worries.

"Did you see her or not?" I could hear the leather from the chair crinkling under his now clenched hands. "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't." Thanatos said. "The question is: Is she here or not?"

"That's what we're trying to find out." Jonathan was close to yelling. "Think about it," Thanatos said. "if there really was a little girl here, especially yours I'm assuming, would Joker really just let her wander around or lock her up somewhere?"

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that Joker would want to keep her around. Somewhere he would see her every moment. And probably somewhere Harley could obsess over her as well." Thanatos brought a spoonful to her face but stopped short as it hit her mask. She held it there for a moment, the white dots that symbolized her eyes staring forward and eerie. Without anything having moved the soup disappeared and the spoon was left shiny with no hint of liquid. "How...?" I started to say.

"So we have to find Joker." Jonathan interjected. "And doesn't Joker want you to make something for him?" Thanatos asked. "Yes," he replied. "he wants me to make a Fear-Laughing hybrid chemical to put into the water supply." Thanatos put the spoon down. "And did you make this chemical?"

"No."

Thanatos reached over towards my chair and grabbed my hand. I could feel her skin even through the thick catsuit she was wearing. It felt old and scaly – like what one would imagine the Graeae Sisters' skin would feel like.

"Well then," she said seemingly looking at me. "You're going to have to make that Chemical then, aren't you?"

Sorry this took me so long... Finals and all that. If you don't know who the graeae sisters are then the link is an image.


	5. Chapter 5

I could hear Jonathan grimace under his mask.

"Aww, c'mon Scarecrow, it's not so bad is it? Do you not want to share the glory with Joker?" Thanatos chided.

"No, its what he'd use it for that's the problem." he said.

"So then you're riddled with goodness? What happened to the 'I was tortured as a child and now I will make everyone feel the fear that I did,' person that I adored so much?" she said.

"You can't be serious." growled Jonathan. It would be great if she was actually on to something but I doubted that could be true. That person that we watched on TV causing all those people pain and suffering was so different from my Jonathan who was always kind and helped people but really they were the same person. It was all an act and I was the idiot frog.

"Jonathan," I said. "We need to find Shilo." I was pretty sure he was glaring at Thanatos but he said nothing and we left the room.

In the hallway, Joker's men once again lined the walls. Some of them were bug-eyed with fear while others looked on, idiotically headstrong as if they were thinking of attacking. The wheel chair rattled as it was moved down the gravel-laden pathway. "Where are we going now?" I asked. Jonathan said nothing as he pushed the chair. We passed the staircase where we had first come down. I hadn't even noticed that there was a wider network of tunnels running underneath the warehouse. This path was lit up by holiday lights and luminescent spray paint. In the distance I could hear a faint circus music recording.

"We're going to see Joker, aren't we?" I said weakly. I could feel him shake his head. "The laboratory where I had been working on the gas is this way." he said. A menacing face was spray painted on a wall, but we turned down another hallway that I had not seen before. The face had been bigger than anything else that had been spray painted on the walls so I figured that Joker's lair was somewhere in that direction.

This hallway was completely dark save for something that looked like the saliva strings of glow-worms. It gave off a creepy aura that sent shivers up my spine, and a zinging feeling in my feet. We went through what I guessed was a miner's arch way and a light was flipped on. Boxes of bugs lay everywhere and vials of orange liquids were carefully packed away in containers. This was where it all happened. All the toxins were made here. I couldn't help but squirm in my chair. I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe he would use it all on me. I was pretty sure he wouldn't, but then again how could I know? What if this was all some stupid plot to get rid of me and he got everyone to play along? It's elaborate, yes, unnecessary, definitely, but he could be doing it like this to traumatize me and cause me to have a mental breakdown of some sort.

Conspiracy Theories.

Check one.

Maybe that was how it was all started. Isn't it how all the good ones have their downfalls? Breakdowns? Leaders suddenly thinking that everyone is out to get them? God, I am so out of it.


End file.
